Norway-Portugal: Exterminate the Terminator... or be exterminated

Dafter a ‘timid’ debut, which resulted in a victory over Wales, in the José Alvalade Stadium, by 1-0, Jorge Jesus will, at the beginning of the evening of Sunday, seek to lead Portugal to a more convincing performance, at the meeting of the second day of the League of Nations group phase, in which he will be facing Norway.

The Scandinavians present themselves as a ‘fire test’ for the ‘new’ national selection, not only for the victorious entry on the scene in this race (before Norway, also in ‘home’, by 3-2), but especially for what they did in the last World Championship, overcoming Brazil and ‘falling’ only in the final rooms, before England, after extension.

The ‘threat number 1’ is also well identified. It is named after Erling Haaland, who, between Manchester City and Norway, already scores nine goals in the eight official games in which he participated, since the start of the new sports season of 2026/27, and promises to put Diogo Costa to the test... once again.

This is because, remember, advanced and goalkeepers have already faced each other, this time, and no one had more reason to smile than the ‘Exterminator’, since he signed the two straight shots of the triumph achieved over the citizens, in the trip to the Dragon Stadium, on FC Porto, by 0-2, at the start of the Champions League.

Fredrik Aursnes and Andreas Schjelderup, from Benfica, also promise to complicate life for the team of quinas, in a game that can dictate a new and isolated leader of Group 4, since the leadership is divided precisely by these two teams, which add three points each, against the zeros of Denmark and Wales.

Norway-Portugal has an initial whistle scheduled for 7:45 p.m. (Hour of Continental Portugal) at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, and will count on the arbitration of French François Letexier, who will have as assistants Cyril Mugnier and Mehdi Rahmouni, as fourth referee Jérémie Pignard, as VAR Bram Van Driessche and as AVAR Nicolas Rainville.

Coaches in direct speech

Stale Solbakken

Different Portugal with Jorge Jesus: “In the game with Wales, you can see that Portugal has acted differently because of the new selector. He used players in different positions. But Portugal has good players in every position. We know it's going to be a game played, but we're not going to change our way of acting at all. There is no reason for that.”.

Scandal in Manchester City shakes Haaland: “ He is calm, will play and will be a holder”.

Haaland versus Cristiano Ronaldo: “ One's in the middle of a career, the other's in the end, probably. You never know with Cristiano Ronaldo. They are two superstars and will be very good for fans and for the football world”.

Jorge Jesus

Did Cristiano Ronaldo justify with Wales the ownership with Norway? “” In this game with Wales, we made 15 shots within the area, of those 15, Ronaldo was in seven and two of them went to the goal. There were many situations of completion. His income... he can do better of course, he was close to making a goal. But I already talked to him today, so I'm gonna go see how he's doing, if he plays at first or if he's going to the bank. Cris, whether we like it or not, it's not João Neves, he's not 20 years old, João can play two games every three years. Ronaldo is one of the players where training will tell me something.”

Will Portugal live up to expectations? “ I have an idea what the game is. Norway is powerful offensively, but I'm not looking at the game backwards. I won't make a choice of players because they're strong offensively. Are they strong offensively? I want to be, too. Today's practice will give me some conditions for the clean ones. That is, players who are physically recovered and who are not so charged. I won't be afraid of them. Norway is a strong team with excellent players, but I also work a strong team with excellent players.”

Little time to prepare game with Norway. How was the prep? “It’s difficult for the quality they have collectively and individually, as demonstrated in the World Cup. They have a pair of spearheads from the best in Europe, with Haaland and Odegaard, as well as other players we know from the Portuguese championship. They have their assets and they have quality, but so do we. I really believe in what we're doing tomorrow. I will not be afraid of Norway and I will launch a team that even look more offensively than defensively.”

Last results

Norway: D-V-V-D-V

Portugal: V-E-V-D-V

Last elevens

Norway: Orjan Nyland; Julian Ryerson, Kristoffer Ajer, Torbjorn Heggem, Fredrik Aursnes; Sander Berge, Patrick Berg, Martin Odegaard; Oscar Bobb, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland.

Portugal: Diogo Costa; João Cancelo, Renato Veiga, Reuben Dias, Nuno Mendes; Ruben Neves, Vitinha; Bruno Fernandes, Pedro Neto, João Félix and Cristiano Ronaldo

Absence

Norway: /

Portugal: Bruno Fernandes (lesion).